TIN PLATE AND ZINC WORKING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3247, 3 July 1872, Page 4

TIN PLATE AND ZINC WORKING.

This is a branch of industry of no in. considerable importance, and although wo have not as yet manufactories employing large numbers of hands, supplied with all the latest and most important improvements in machinery, and turning out a j variety of the most elegant and highly j finished articles, still we have in Dnnedin eight or nine workshops, employing some | thirty-five hands, well furnished with im- J proved machinery, and supplying the | market with a vast quantity of a certain class of articles, which are fully equal to those of English production, in workmanship, quality, 'and price. It is true that a Jarge proportion of the handa employed are apprentices, but as there are among the employers and overseers men who are in every respect first-class artisans, these youths under such tutorship soon acquire a knowledge of the business, become useful to their employers, and capable of taking the positions of masters and directors of workmen. All that is needed to make them thoroughly skilful and. efficient mechanics in the opportunity of gaining such technical knowledge an may b© acquired at the present day in many of the cities of Europe and America. Of our nine houst*s currying on this business, the oldest is that of Mr James Ciule, established by his father in the early days, when the work was confined to repairs and the manufacture by hand of a tew culinary articles. Mr W. Couston has carried on business for fifteen years, and Messrs Park and Curie for twelve. When the rash for gold commenced, their business rapidly extended, taking in work in copper, zinc, Bheet iron, load, &c. Messrs Park and Curie have now a large factory and warehouse, importing all tIM they cannot manufacture to Buit their j trade in tin, zinc, iron, coppery and brass. Others now came in to, snpnly the extra demand for tin and zinc ware occasioned liy the gold duooyery,

and among them were Messrs Johtl Coventry, John Farm, Win. Bremer, and John Otto, who have been established .in business hero about ten yeanr. The only other establishments are those of Messrs Hughes and Harvey, and Mr Alexandor Porteous.

There aro two systems of tin plate working—the old and the now. Work, according to the old method, was executed by a tedious process, by hand— many articles having been hammered hollow from the flat sheet of tin; and others, such as cups, dish-covers, &c., were made „ of many pieces. The labour expended in tho production of articles of thia kind was very poorly paid, the articles themselves were dear and imperfectly finished, and the material was often injured in the process of working. Uuderthe new mode, which is of a very reeeafc adoption, hollow-ware is shaped by machinery, and a great proportion of the work formerly executed, by hand is now much better and far more expeditiously done by machines, all the parts of which. are made to .'standard gauges. A diahrcover, for instance, ■fchich might have been maUe fonuerly of a dozen diiFerent pieces, is now stamped in an instant out of a single sheet of tin, and so with a multitudo of other articles, which were formerly made of pieces soldered together, oc hammered out by hand—they arc now stamped by machines from sheet iron and afterwards tinned. Buckets and other articles of hollow-ware are now stamped ten and even eleven inches deep from a single disc. Thus uniformity, smoothness, and brilliancy are given to the work, which is of a superior quality, and afforded at a low price. Ton years ago, gold dishes and milk pans were made in. Melbourne by hand. These article*!, made in a superior manner, without a scam, are now imported. A new impetus has been given to the business of late years by these improvements, and .although, as already stated, we have not commenced working hero with the best of appliances,, in tho higher branches, still our workmen have made groat advances. Machines for stamping, raising, and shaping, Ac., have been introduced, and we shall, no doubt, be enabled ero long to vie with older countries in the production of articles of the highest class of stamped, japanned, and enamelled ware. Mr Curie and Mr Couston, besides general tin work, carry on the business of plumbers. Mr Coventry, who iiujiorts his own materials, is well supplied witfit machines, and makes a surprising quantity of canisters of various kinds, chiefly for coffee, confectionery, biscuits, jam, &c., besides tin-ware in general use for culinary and other purpose?. He has five presses with dies for the various kinds of canisters. One machine cuts out the body, another bends it, a third cuts the top and bottom, which fit with the greatest precision, so that nothing remains to be done but to run an iron, along the seams. Pointing to a great pile of these canisters, Mr Coventry remarked that tho same work would pay him much better at horne —that profits, which at one time were high, were now very low. Mr Farra has worksho. s which are very conveniently fitted up in a stone building, and furnished with a variety of apparatus, such as square and circukur cutting, double seaming, bun-ing, grooving, wiring, sotting down, folding, rolling, punching, and other machines. Some of these machines, which are chiefly of American origin, aro most ingeniously constructed, and tho ease, rapidity, and exactness with which they perform work, that formerly with, the hand shears, hammer and soldering iron, was most difl'cult and tedious, us truly extraordinary. To make, for instance, an ordinary drinking cup—one machine cuts the body, another bends if^ a third turns the edges for the seam and for wire ; a fourth ties the seam ; a fifth, wirea it; a sixth lays off the edge for the bottom ; a seventh cuts the bottom ; an eighth lays tho edge of the bottom over ; and a ninth double-seams the bottom ; so that there is liUle or no hammering or soldering. Mr Farra gives a good deal of attention to the manufacture of colonial ovens, the price of which is now muck lower than when they were imported, They are made of thick sheet iron, the latches and hinges being cast at one oi the Duncdin foundries, and nictily polished. He also manufactures ridging and spouting, for which he has lately imported the necessary machinery. Mr Bremer and Mr Otto manufacturegeneral colonial tinware, and work aswell in zinc and sheet iron.

Messrs Hughes and Harvey's establishment is a branch of an old Melbourne house, under the management of Mr G. H. Marsden. It in well mipplied with, labour-saving machines of various kinds, especially such as are iiflerl in the manufacture of canisters, presses for putting edges on tops and. bottoms of various sizes—round and square— swaging, burring, grooving, punching, crimping, double-Beaming, wiring, and other machines, besides a very fine stamper, with, suitable dies for hollow-ware. The latter: was made at Wilson's foundry, Dunedin, and cost £100. Messrs Hughes and Harvey make large quantities of tins for coffee, confectionery, honey, jam, &c. In. 1800, they made 20,000 tins for jam ; im 1870, 13,000; and in 1871, abont 3000. This shows a great falling off in the local manufacture of jam ; no doubt owing to the low rate at which the market is supplied with jam from Tasmania and Victoria. Messrs Hughes and Harvey make colonial ovens, and have introduced tiie manufacture of galvanised buckets, tubs, &c. These articles are made of black iron. They are pickled for two days in water acidulated with sulphuric acid, then well scoured, and dipped in a boiler of zinc* covered with sal-ammoniac. They take op a very regular coat of zinc, which preserves the iron from oxidation, and are fully equal to the imported article. Mr Farra has not been in business for more than two years or so, but he is making rapid progress in the establishment of a good trade. He has several of those wonderful machines which have so transformed the business of late, and ie about to add to the number. He works* we believe, for some of the ironmonger* in town, and fills orders from the country for general tin and zinc ware.